Reconciled

Two black men were shot by police this week.  A maelstrom of outrage, charges of racism, and deep frustration erupted nationwide, rapidly followed by more than twice as many police officers gunned down in vengeance during a peaceful protest.  A rapid spiral of rage against history, class, race, and law exploded into hate and blood. No one is winning.  We are all poorer for these events.  We're all losing.

Fallujah was liberated from ISIL this week.  I actually hadn't heard about it.  Are we still thinking of Paris, Brussels, Istanbul, San Bernardino, and Orlando?  Or are we saturated to boredom with religious violence?

In the backdrop, some estimates say a million refugees have escaped the hell on earth of war in Syria and Iraq to a Europe that is overwhelmed and frightened.  Resources strained, the recent history of attacks - political will and our better natures collapsing in distrust, racism, and despair.  Meanwhile the race for the next Commander-in-Chief of the world's largest military sinks to a new disgusting low with every passing day.

I see the news, and I don't want this.  I look around at the writing by my extended Budo family, and I see others who feel the same.  Something about taking responsibility for someone else's life every class?  Putting my life in the hands of others every time we train?  Immersed in a combat method regularly, am I more likely to regularly meditate on violence and it's consequences?  Once exposed and laid psychically bare on the mat am I less afraid of self reflection?  

Is the Art of Peace truly "medicine for a sick world?"  

I don't want to sit at home and watch TV for the next Oregon standoff, or the next flimsy excuse for a public murder.  I don't want the fear, the hate, the bloodshed.  I don't want to be reconciled to the fate of the world; I want the world reconciled.  I want our one family, I want peace, I want this to stop.  I want to do something.  I want to play a role.  I want to believe in Ueshiba's call for warriors for peace.